Hypoglycemia is a condition in which patients have abnormally low blood glucose levels. This often occurs in conjunction with glucose circulation conditions such as diabetes. Symptoms associated with abnormally low glucose levels vary and are known include, for example, nervousness and anxiety, impatience and irritability, confusion, hunger, nausea, sleepiness, blurred or impaired vision, physical weakness, fatigue, and even unconsciousness. Although about 60 to about 70 mg/dL is commonly cited as the lower range of normal glucose levels, symptoms of hypoglycemia usually do not occur until levels fall to about 50 to about 54 mg/dL (See e.g. Cryer, P E et al., Hypoglycemia in adults: Clinical manifestations, definition, and causes, UpToDate Inc, Apr. 26, 2013).
For treating low blood sugar, patients are often instructed to stop any insulin treatments, which continue to decrease blood sugar, and to instead consume foods, drinks, or medicinal tablets containing a prescribed amount of glucose or simple carbohydrates. Patients may alternatively be treated with Glucagon and other hormone treatments, which stimulate their own liver to release biologically stored glucose into the blood stream. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,771 to Beaumont et al. teaches providing hypoglycemic mammals with therapeutic amounts of both Calcitonin and Glucagon. U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,314 to Cooper discloses a medicinal composition for treating hypoglycemia comprising Amylin.
Thus far, the proposed solutions have been deficient. For example, treatments available fail to directly introduce glucose into a hypoglycemic patient's blood stream. As such, there may be a delay as long as many minutes between receiving treatment and alleviating symptoms of the hypoglycemic condition. For example, Glucagon must be injected into a patient's stomach and may take about six minutes to treat hypoglycemia.
Additionally, because symptoms of hypoglycemia usually present in a patient after the patient's blood glucose levels have already fallen well below healthy levels, patients are often unable to tell in advance when they are going to experience a hypoglycemic episode. Since symptoms of these episodes are generally marked by mental confusion and loss of consciousness, patients are often rendered incapable of effectively caring for themselves, by stopping insulin delivery and/or delivering glucose to their body through the prescribed methods, when the symptoms occur. This may be particularly problematic because untimely treated hypoglycemic episodes are known to have dire consequences. For example, symptoms such as dizziness and blurred and impaired vision have been known to cause traffic episodes when they occur while driving. In other instances, patients can experience hypoglycemic coma and even death if they fail to timely and effectively treat the condition.
Although various proposals have been made to solve the problem, none of those in existence combine the characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, there is a need for a method, system, and apparatus contained in a single, operative unit, which measures a patient's blood sugar, and prompts automatic or manual delivery glucose directly into a patient's body upon detecting blood sugar levels below a predetermined threshold amount.